Criticism of USMNT’s effort and “want to win” are largely off the mark, yet there remain a litany of tactical issues to be addressed
“They just don’t want it enough”
“They’re playing for the name on the back of the shirt”
“There are thousands of little kids out there that dream of this opportunity”
Welcome to the U.S. men’s national team panic sphere, where this team is suddenly “in crisis.” It’s a tragic place for a soccer team to reside. It doesn’t really mean anything. What it does do, though, is fuel the kind of nonsensical rhetoric so often found around this most puzzling of footballing entities.
On Thursday night, the U.S. lost 1-0 to Panama in the CONCACAF Nations League semifinals. It was a pretty bad one. Mauricio Pochettino got his tactics wrong. Panama defended very, very well. Throw in some poor goalkeeping from Matt Turner at the death, a couple of puzzling non-subtitutions, and it was the perfect storm – a picture-book international smash and grab from the Panamanian perspective.
The U.S., as a result, will not play for the opportunity to defend their Nations League crown. Instead, they will face Canada in a not-really-that-happy-to-be-here third-place match at 6 pm ET at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. This, in the eyes of many, means the U.S. soccer world is ending. There have been cries for more “intensity” and “grit” and “passion.”
There are references to the good old days, when mid-table Premier League players such as Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey, plus a plucky bunch of MLS fillers and European exiles willed their way to a series of dramatic, heroic failures by simply shouting at each other and wanting it more.
And so the rhetoric rumbles on around the national team. These are common themes, this central idea that American ideals – a “pull yourselves up by your bootstraps” style of soccer – is needed to push this overtly European looking side to victory.
Even Pochettino said after the loss that the USMNT “need to find a way to compete better. I don’t like to say that. We are the USA, but you can’t win with your shirt. You cannot win because you play here or there. You need to show and you need to come here and be better and suffer and win duels and work hard.”
But that continuous insistence on “fight” is a vast oversimplification of a far more complex problem. These are a lot of good footballers who really do want to win when they step on the pitch. The Panama fixture was far more indicative of a lacking player pool and poor tactical nous – weighed down by an expectation of excellence that is unrealistic to place on a series of talented yet flawed players.
